Did you know that the ancient Romans would have enjoyed fried chicken? A Roman cookbook called the Apicius lists a recipe for deep-fried chicken called Pullum Frontonianum, possibly after an contemporary named Frontone from the time of Emperor Septimius Severus. However, the ancient Mediterranean world’s predilection for chicken would have gone even further back, since archaeologists have found chicken bones in the region as far back as 800 BC (the bird would have first been domesticated in the jungles of southern Asia, its native habitat).
By the way, what the guy in this cartoon is saying is supposed to be Latin for “It’s finger-lickin’ good!” Unfortunately, I know barely any Latin.
That said, the fried chicken most people in the industrialized eat today would have developed from Scottish and West African traditions, which enslaved African-Americans in the South would combine when cooking their variation of the dish. Yet, despite later stereotypes, African-Americans in those times tended to eat fried chicken only on special occasions, as the ingredients to make it would have been expensive until well into the 20th century.